The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

A new tool released by NASA allows armchair explorers to examine tiny features on the landscape of Mars --rocks and debris that are over 228 million miles away-- without ever leaving home.

The Martian landscape is visible in part of a 1.3 billion pixel panoramic photo taken by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

Bob Deen, an investigator with the Multi-mission Instrument Processing Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, constructed the interactive panorama using almost 900 photos taken by cameras on-board the Mars rover Curiosity.

Stitched together into a mosaic, the full image contains over 1.3 billion pixels. Members of the public can access it through a web-based viewer that allows them to look around the Martian landscape like they're actually standing on its surface.

"It gives a sense of place and really shows off the cameras' capabilities," Deen said, in a statement. "You can see the context and also zoom in to see very fine details."

The images that constitute the mosaic were taken between October 5th and November 16th of last year, mostly with the telephoto camera of Curiosity's Mast Camera. The panorama was also supplemented with 21 frames from the Mastcam's wider-angle camera and 25 black-and-white frames from the Navigation Camera.

The photos were taken on the site where Curiosity collected its first scoops of dusty sand, a windblown patch called "Rocknest." The view extends to Mount Sharp on the horizon.

Malin Space Science Systems built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the project for NASA and built the rover. More information about the mission is available at NASA's Mars Science Laboratory site.